In case you hadn’t heard Drake Maye was once again the center of attention at Patriots’ OTA practice this week, the No. 3 overall pick jumping up what Jerod Mayo emphatically declared is a non-existent June depth chart to take reps behind for-now veteran starter Jacoby Brissett.
That’s the good news for New England fans hoping to see Maye sooner rather than later this fall.
Of course the bad news was that neither Maye nor Brissett, nor any other part of the new-look New England passing attack looked very good on the practice field behind Gillette Stadium in what is essentially a non-contact, non-competitive environment.
Balls were hitting the ground left, right and middle, even without a defense on the field. When the defense was involved, Maye had a couple regrettable throws that were intercepted. Meanwhile Brissett seemingly threw the bulk of his red zone tosses high over the middle, avoiding interceptions as well as completions.
The Patriots passing game is quite clearly a work in progress, from the transitioning quarterback position outward.
There is a lot of work to do at this point.
But another sliver of not-quite-summer good news is that the man leading that work, first-year New England offensive coordinator Alex Van Pelt, sounds confident in the progress being made and the eventual outcome that could be had by Maye and the rest of his developing troops.
More importantly the man universally referred to as AVP is confident in his own ability to do a job that’s new to him, running his own offensive show.
“It’s similar to what I’ve done in the past. I was in charge of all the installations in the old offense,” Van Pelt said, referring to his time under Kevin Stefanski in Cleveland. “So we’re following some of that blueprint. A littler more things that I may have done differently that we didn’t do in the past, trying to kind of test those out and see if those work. But it’s been good. I think guys have a good grasp of what we’re trying to get done in the system. We’ve installed a lot of our offense, different schemes in the run game and pass game as well. We’ve gone through it now twice. So I feel like as we come back for training camp that third time we should have a good grasp of what we’re trying to get accomplished. But guys have done a great job as far as learning. Taking the drill work I think is the biggest thing I’ve seen, these guys taking the drill work and applying it in the team periods and having success with it. So we’ll continue to grow.”
Van Pelt will indeed be growing along with his offense and Maye who he referenced as a “franchise quarterback.” Van Pelt never had the responsibility or autonomy that he has now as the lead voice of the offense under Mayo. He is the singular voice in the ear of Maye, the most important draft pick of the Robert Kraft era in New England.
“He’s been impressive,” Van Pelt said of his early work with Maye, including surprising success in the one area that many critics questioned in the former North Carolina star’s skill set. “Probably just the ability to pick up the footwork changes. That’s a big change for a guy to come in and completely change the footwork. But we did it right away and he’s embraced it.”
But that quick improvement in one area of Maye’s game doesn’t mean he’s on the fast track to the starting job by any means. Van Pelt made it clear that veteran Jacoby Brissett is the No. 1 on the depth chart now and to steal a phrase from Patriots lore, probably for the foreseeable future.
“Jacoby, again, is our starter and he’s playing excellent football for us in the spring. And Drake is coming on. Until that changes, we’re going to stick with what we got,” Van Pelt said.
So Maye jumping the line to some reps ahead of third-year veteran Bailey Zappe and behind Brissett may be a good sign and step. Maye throwing a couple interceptions in those reps isn’t ideal. But it’s all part of the “process” for Van Pelt this June in New England.
“I think of it as a marathon over a sprint. You don’t just go out and run a marathon. You have to train properly and it’s the same with a quarterback,” Van Pelt declared of Maye’s development and eventual ascension to the starting job. “There’s a process. And we follow that process. We trust that process. You can’t just stick a guy out there and expect him to be successful without the proper training. It’s a process and we are making moves in the right direction.
“We always talk about earning your reps around here. So as he continues to grow and has successful practices and starts stacking those, then we think about moving him up the depth chart. But it’s a process, like I said and it’s a marathon. We’re going to take our time and do it the right way.”